About this Item
AN EXTRAORDINARY AUTHOR S PRESENTATION COPY OF A MILESTONE IN THE HISTORY OF TOBACCO. NEANDER, Johann. Tabacologia. Leiden, ex officina Isaaci Elzeviri, 1622 [with] GLANDORP, Matthias Ludwig. Tractatus de Polypo. Bremen, Typis Wessellanis, 1628. FIRST EDITIONS. 4to. Two volumes in one; acquired by the Bath Public Reference Library in 1926 (bookplate on front pastedown and unobtrusive blind letterpress on margin of some leaves). Ink ownership inscription of Scottish man Thomas Falconer on additional title of Neander s work, and bookplate on verso of both titles (an Angel praying within a orle of laurel and motto: vive ut vivas ). In contemporary stiff vellum with yapp edges, ink lettering on spine, upper joint slightly cracked, but still resisting. Two first editions, one of which rare and extremely important for the history of tobacco use. Only one copy of this first edition being recorder at auction (ABPC). 1) [GLANDORP] pp. (viii) 60 (iv), (?)4 A-H4. Roman letter, some Italic, the sporadic word or sentence in black letter. Title within full-page engraving by artist Gerrit Muntinck of architectural border crowded with studious putti and topped by portrait of the author at 33 years of age with motto: ut pia fata volunt [Krivatsy 4747]. At foot, a vignette of an archer shooting arrows at close aim with motto viciniori . Woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces. Very light marginal browning throughout, some light soiling to margins of t-p. Wanting quire E, as also stated in an early Latin hand at foot margin of leaf D4v incriminating the lack of care of the bookbinder desunt per incuriam bibliopegi, libri hujus praestantissimi paginae octo . 2) [NEANDER] pp. (xlii) 256 (iv), (1) *-5*4 A-2L4 2K2. Roman letter, some Italic, a little Greek. AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed on half-title: Clarissimo Viro D. Hadriano Falckemburgio Amico Observando ddt Autor . First additional title-page fully engraved with portico; Apollo and Artemis to the sides; to the top, personification of a virtue (Temperance?) as a crowned goddess holding a vase in her right hand and a book on her lap, flanked by two other females figures preparing tobacco; at foot, a set of alchemical and medical-pharmaceutical items. Small Elzevir vignette on second t-p, known as Le Solitaire, recalling the Estienne device; motto non solus . Large woodcut initials, headpiece and 9 engraved plates, first three by the author, second three by Moses van Uytenbroeck, and last three by Michel Le Blon. Only a light dampstaining throughout lower gutter. Outer blank margin of third plate (B3) with clean tear along the illustration, no affection of the image, because of the thinness of the paper. Overall a clean, crisp, and ultimately a fine copy. The second book included in this volume is the first edition of a famous early work devoted to the subject of tobacco, written by the German physician Johann Neander (1571-1639). The first work is a treatise on nasal polyps by M. L. Glandorp (1595-1636), though incomplete. Neander s work is a compendium of information concerning all aspects of tobacco and its production. It describes the uses of the plant and its alleged medical properties. It includes finely executed botanical engravings illustrating the plant and the first printed images of Native Americans harvesting and processing tobacco. The three final engravings show typologies of Amerindian and Persian smoking pipes. This is a remarkable presentation copy from the author to Adrian Falkenburg (d. 1650), one of his celebrated colleagues at the University of Leiden, whose contribution to the study of the effects of tobacco on the human body is published in the form of a letter to Neander at the end of the book (pp. 228-240). Falkenburg illustrates the noxiousness of tobacco stating that, after inhaling the smoke, the particles produced its by combustion are carried to the brain through the blood. Alden; Arents 148; Krivatsy 8277; Willems 204; cf. Sabin 52173, second editi. Seller Inventory # ABE-1519664345211
Contact seller
Report this item
